A total victory of style over substance from first time Director Joseph Kosinski that’s really awe-inspiring big screen fun. There’s plenty to criticise but just enjoy the ride.

A total victory of style over substance from first time Director Joseph Kosinski that’s really awe-inspiring big screen fun. There’s plenty to criticise but just enjoy the ride.

Rating: 6/10

Running Time: 127 minutes

US Certificate: PG UK Certificate: PG

Country: United States

I’m not normally seduced crow-like by shiny new things. I usually frown at 3-D, look down at style over substance and like my films depressing and foreign, yet there’s something about TRON: Legacy that drew me in and made me gawp in wonder at it’s beauty and creativity.

Let’s get the story out of the way. Twenty-five years after Kevin Flynn (Bridges) was trapped inside a virtual world, his son Sam (Hedlund) has gone off the rails and is living an aimless, but wealthy life, as the beneficiary of his Dad’s mega-company, Encon. Sam accidentally gets sucked into the world as well and meets up with his Dad and sexy laydee Quorra (Wilde) before hatching a plan to get them out. The trio are relentlessly pursued by Clu (also Bridges), the master of this world, as they race towards the exit.

Storywise, it is as formulaic as they come – young child’s parents die and so he becomes a bitter rebel before finding the road to redemption. It’s all been done before – most notably in the recent Star Trek movie – and there’s also lashings of the standard sci-fi fare of one-piece costumes, pantomime baddies and brutal gladiatorial games, all with a futuristic edge. However, when it looks as fantastic and sleak as it does, it seems completely new and inventive. Throw in some memorable characters and an epic soundtrack and you get a really awe-inducing watch. The inclusion of Daft Punk as masked DJs – who wrote and performed much of the music – adds even more to the feel of a supercool (the only time this European adjective has ever actually been valid) music video.

Which all basically means that, if watched on the small screen, TRON will be pretty dire. If it wasn’t for this fact, it would have been rated higher – so, go watch it before it disappears from the cinema. Or, why not buy a humongous telly?

It's Got: Jeff Bridges playing a futuristic The Dude from The Big Lebowski, lots of perspex, a banging soundtrack, an amazingly created cyberworld

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